martha: a big supporter of mitt romney is ann romney. i'm looking forward to sitting down with her. what it was like being in there when he was doing the debate. how she responded, what she said to him afterwards. what they're preparing for now with the next big one on tuesday. we'll get inside of the family. "happening now" is right now. jenna: we have breaking news from pennsylvania where we just heard the sentencing for jerry sandusky. david lee miller live from the courthouse with more on this breaking news. david lee? >> reporter: jenna, the bottom line here, a minimum of 30 years, this is what the judge sentenced jersey sandusky too. the judge said it was a tantamount to a life sentence. sandusky could have been sentenced to 400 years. at the end of the day he sandusky is 68 years old and essentially a 30-year sentence is essentially a life sentence. he told the court, i quote

him, i didn't do these alleged disof the abouting acts. he talked about the fact that he had to spend his 42nd wedding anniversary in the county jail. he talked to his family and friends. he said they were in described as the fourth quarter. he went on to say we will continue to fight. he missed his grandchildren as well as his dog. he talked about the fact only person he had a sexual relationship with is his wife. his wife is his only sex partner. he added, after marriage. quoting him again, i tried to bring joy. i tried to make people laugh. through it all jerry sandusky was wearing a red jumpsuit. he for the most part was unemotional throughout the proceeding. occasionally he raised his voice as he spoke. he did not appear to shed a tear. but those who did cry were a number of the victims. they spoke to the court. they had the opportunity to present what is called a victim impact statement. victim number five said, i will never erase the filthy

images of his body on mine. he must pay for his crimes. another victim said, and i quote, jenna. i don't forgive you. i don't know if i ever will. lastly, jenna, over my shoulder, off in the distance, you might see joe amendola, jerry sanduy's attorney. he is speaking to the press. he will explain to them the reasons they're going ahead with a appeal. jenna. jenna: more breaking news. judge napolitano will join us shortly on all of this. david lee, thank you very much. first brand new stories and more breaking news. jon: that's right. the big romney bounce. a new poll shows governor romney in the lead among likely voters. this after the first presidential debate. what it means just four weeks out from election day. plus day five in the search for a little girl who vanished on her way to school. where fbi agents and police are focusing their investigation. and a deadly meningitis outbreak spreading. why health officials believe thousands of people could be at risk. what you need to know, all "happening now."

jon: and a good tuesday morning to you. that means election day is four weeks from today. can you believe that? a big surge for governor romney in the race for the white house to tell you about. i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. we're getting a look at more brand new polling which shows mr. romney's strong debate performance last week may be resonating with voters. take a look at this. this is the latest pew poll of likely voters. governor romney now holding a four-point lead over the president. the governor trailed the president by eight points in the previous poll. and among likely women voters governor romney has closed a huge defender -- gender gap with the president. both candidates even at 47%. compare that to the same poll taken in mid-september before the debate. take a look at that gap. governor romney trailing the president by9 points. kimberly strassel, a

columnist for "the wall street journal" she just wrote about the woman vote in fact from the gop. do you buy this type of move, this type of closing of the gender gap in such a short time? >> this is a remarkable poll. entire switch. not just among women voters but that 12-point swing you saw among all likely voters. that has to be one of the biggest post-debate poll flips you've seen ever. it is huge. however what we are seeing if you look out you're beginning to see polls come out in battleground states too. they're also showing big movement. whether or not the pew poll is exactly spot on, what is without a doubt is that governor romney seems to have made up a lot of frowned in this debate and really caused people to change their minds. jenna: we talk about a lot about saling in polls. i want to point out a couple weeks ago the pew poll there were less republicans sampled that time around. this could be a fact are to. pew calling people, likely

voters taking what they think about either parties and either candidate. couple weeks ago you wrote an article, the gop's female trouble. you used metaphor, fossilized male dinosaurs. for our viewers who didn't get a chance to read the article, what was the pound and how maybe, if view has changed if at all? >> the point was illustrated in the debate this past week between governor romney and barack obama. the argument for most of this year barack obama has been hitting mitt romney on war on women, arguing he is a waging a war on women. trying to scare women voters what life would be like under a romney presidency. mitt romney for a long time has a way of dealing with this, you saw this in particular in the convention try to make himself more likeable, talk about how he was a good husband and good father and good things he had done for people. that wasn't necessarily working. the point of the column what you saw him do at debates this week instead make his policy arguments.

to instead go out there, clearly explained how he is going to help the middle class. in doing so, make all voters and women too realize that some of the things that he was putting forward could actually have a positive impact on their life. that went far more toward making him more likeable than some of his more overt actions. jenna: very interesting to see what changes can be made in just a short time. you mentioned the convention. quick final question here. talk coming out all of the questions was about ann romney and michelle obama. we're not talking a lot about them. ann romney will be hosting "good morning america" tomorrow. what factors, do you think if any these two women may bring to the election and what we might see over the next four weeks? are they a factor? >> look the general argument out there that, spouses of candidates don't tend to win them elections. they can be a net draw back if they don't do a good job, if they plub or become a

center of attention but neither women have been doing that what they have both proven they're very effective campaigners for their husbands an shoring up their messages. in that regard they're adding some ballast to both. campaigns. in particular reaching out to women voters we were just talking to. they're mostly there as sort of side by side to keep thr husband's message out there, rather than necessarily winning the campaign on their own. jenna: said before in context today. good if they're not winning the campaign on their own because they're not the ones running for president, right? >> that is probably a good thing. jenna: kim, always great to talk to you. thank you so much. >> yeah. jon: breaking news on the deadly meningitis outbreak. health officials warning now that more people may have received contaminated steroid injections linked to that illness. when more than 100 cases already confirmed, eight fatalities among them. jonathan serrie is live in atlanta. so who's affected by this new warning, jonathan? >> reporter: hi, jon. the people affected by this

warning are anyone who received these injections from three potentially contaminated lots of steroids used for back pain treatments. the medication was compound by a specialty pharmacy in massachusetts and then shipped to medical practices in 23 states. the at risk injections were administered to patients between may 21 and september 26 when they were eventually recalled. and because this type of meningitis has a long incubation period, some infected patients may not start showing symptoms until late october and possibly beyond. listen. >> the further away we get from the injection the more comfortable we will be but we do encourage patients to remain vigilant even beyond that four-week period should they develop any of these symptoms we're worried about, headache, fever, stiff neck, et cetera. if they develop these please contact your physician. >> reporter: in addition to the flu-like symptoms this form of meningitis can cause

neurological symptoms such as numbness weakness, confusion and altered mental state. it is very important that people experiencing these symptoms contact their physician as soon as possible. they will likely be placed on anti-fungal medication which is, has a better chance of favorable outcomes if administered early, jon. jon: but it seems like this thing is growing. i mean what are the latest numbers? how many people are sick? >> reporter: yeah the numbers are constantly evolving. in fact this morning "the tennessean" newspaper in nashville is reporting that there was a fifth death in in tennessee. the cdc has yet to confirm this. so as we speak the official national death toll from this outbreak is eight people nationwide in four states. four in tennessee, two in michigan, one in maryland and one in virginia with a total of 105 cases in nine states. but we're likely to see these numbers continue to increase well into october and potentially even beyond.

just because of the long incubation rate of this particular fungal meningitis even though the medication that has the fungus that is apparently causing this outbreak was recalled in late september. you're going to see this delayed effect going potentially four weeks or beyond, jon. jon: very concerning. jonathan serrie in atlanta. thank you. >> reporter: certainly. jenna: right now the state department facing serious questions about the murder of four americans in libya including ambassador chris stevens. a key witness expected to tell a house committee tomorrow the state department refused to send more security to libya before the attack. now this despite requests apparently from the consulate staff. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is joining us now from washington. catherine, what are you learning today. >> reporter: good morning. fox news confirming a waiver was signed by the state department to the consulate in benghazi did not comport

to physica security requirements. fox news was told the waiver was signed by charlene lam, the deputy international secretary for programs. will testify before the house government oversight committee on wednesday. the classified and unclassified physical security standards were designed to give an ambassador and his security team an hour to burn classified documents and call in a military evacuation. >> seems to be a coordinated effort between the white house and the state department from secretary clinton to president obama's white house. there was a very conscious decision made, i believe, my personal opinion, is that they wanted the appearance of quote, unquote normalization there in libya and building up of an infrastructure, putting up barbed-wire on our facility would lead to the wrong impression, something that the administration didn't want to have moving forward. >> reporter: congressman chaffetz who has just rerned from libya says there was no discussion when he was there on the ground of the video or that clip from youtube and how it had any role in that attack. jenna. jenna: a lot to listen for

when we have tomorrow's hearing. what are we expecting? >> reporter: well, we will be hearing from the points of contact in the state department as well as in the military who made the decisions on security for benghazi or they witnessed the decisions that led up to the ambassador's murder. there were at least three warnings from the intelligence community or the military that the threat from al qaeda in north africa was rising and there were calls for more security from the individuals on the ground including a military officer o witnessed four attacks on other diplomatic targets since june. what we were also anticipating is that there was really a belief within the state department as well as the military within that first 24 hours that this really had all the hallmarks of terrorism that really the video had no role in this attack, jenna. jenna: more as we get it, catherine. thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. jon: an ohio teenager accused of luring three victims to their deaths with fake job openings on craig's list. his trial is getting underway. we'll have the latest. plus new developments in the murder of an american on

the mexican border. a husband gunned down while jet-sking. you remember this case? his wife scrambled to get to shore. now there has been an arrest in the case. >> what is his link to david and where, does know where david's body is? you know, does know where the remains are? all energy development comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today.

jenna: right now new information on a few crime stories we're keeping an eye on for you here on "happening now." a jury trial is set to begin for a vermont woman texting while driving and hurting a pedestrian. she pleaded not guilty to grossly negligent operation of a motor vehicle vehicle. she "florida face to face"s up to 15 years in prison. that is many some of the reason we're watching this case and outcome of it all. an ohio teen is headed to trial charged in a deadly screen to lure victims with phony craig's list job offers. jury selection begins for

17-year-old brogan rafferty. he and another man lured and eventually killed three victims. he faces life in prison. attorneys for grge zimmerman will ask a florida judge to release school yards and information from trayvon martin's social media accounts. trayvon's parents are objecting. they say the information is private and say it is not relevant. zimmerman is pleading not guilty to second-degree murder charges claiming he shot trayvon martin to death in self-defense. jon: new arrest in a murder on the u.s.-mexico border. texas couple, david and tiffany hartley went jet-sking on falcon lake which straddles the border just over two years ago. they were out checking out church ruins submerged, half submerged on the mexican side of the lake. tiffany says pirates in three small boats started chasing them, shooting her husband in the head and gunning for her until she made it back to land. mexican police have been searching for the mysterious killers for two years. now they have made an

arrest. this man, a drug cartel leader, who goes by the nickname of, squirrel. joining us on the phone the sheriff of zapata county, texas. is this a guy you have heard of? has he been on your radar, sheriff gonzalez? >> honestly know. we identified five individuals that had something to do with the killing of david that are low level i guess you could say. also an immediate yacht supervisor that gave orders to kill tiffany also. this individual is someone new to us. we were not aware he had any involvement. of course he is higher ranking i guess you could say in the chain of command of the cartel at the time. jon: okay. let's take a look, for our viewers, let's take a look at the lake. it straddles the border. it is the rio grande essentially as i understand it. your county is on the american side of the border. the murder apparently happened in mexican waters.

so that is why mexican authorities have taken the lead. i mean has your agency been able to gather any intelligence or get any leads from the american side? >> well we have, ever since it happened on september 30th, 2010, we've been gathering evidence, have been talking to people. for the purpose of trying to get this information to the mexican authorities again because it did not happen on the u.s. side of the border. it happened in mexico. jon: right. >> however we're trying to get all this information to the mexican authorities. we have provided names to the fbi and we have provided information to the fbi. they have also information, i believe they have forwarded this information to the mexican authorities. so we're trying to again gather as much information as we can. trying to have some closure for the hartley family and also of course maybe mexico can bring these individuals to justice. jon: i know not long after david's murder there was a mexican police commander who was helping with the investigation. a couple of brothers had

been named as possible suspects back then. a couple of mexican brothers also involved in the drug business. ail of sudden that police commander's head, severed, found in a suitcase. that seemed to me to say, oh, police are onto something there. but you say this new suspect, the so-called, squirrel, salvadore alfonso escobido is someone you never heard of before? >> that's correct. the state commander of the police in mexico was beheaded. he was in the necessarily killed because he was sising in the investigation. in mexico murder cases fall under the federal investigators. he was trying to find the body of david hartley because of that assistance to us to locate the body he was beheaded. jon: there is no sign of the body. i know that so frustrates his widow. what about motive, what would be the motive for the thugs to kill a couple of people having a good time on personal watercraft?

>> remember the mexican side of the border, really indirectly the u.s. side of the border is controlled by the mexican drug trafficking organizations. the cartels control the border along our u.s.-mexico border. these individuals, tiffany and david had gone up to take pictures of this very popular half submerged church. very big tourist attraction. they were on their way back and the same thing ppened to them that happened back in april and may of that same year where people along the lake were getting stopped by mexican thugs and robbed. the same thing happened to them, with them. they didn't stop. they went territory unbeknownst to them, where in this area where they went into is a very, very hot spot for narcotics trafficking. where tons and tons of marijuana are stored there. jon: huh. it just surprises me they would go out after people, when i ride a jet-ski i don't take a lot of money or anything with me but -- >> you have got to realize this is an area that is controlled by the mexican

drug trafficking organizations. jon: yeah. okay. good to know. sheriff gonzalez, we hope that the mexican authorities found the right guy here. >> believe me, i hope so too also. jon: thanks for your help in the investigation and we'll talk to you again soon. >> thank you, sir. jon: sheriff gonzalez, thank you. >> we'll be right back with more "happening now."

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>> we are just praying that she comes home and that she is safe. jon: so many heartbroken people. an intense search underway for a ten-year-old colorado girl who vanished on her way to school friday. f.b.i. agents and police going door to door, looking in fields near the home where jessica

lives with her mother. rick folbaum is live with more. >> reporter: the only evidence police have is the backpack as they search for this little girl. every day ten-year-old jessica ridge way would walk from her house to meet up with friends. together they would all walk to school together. friday, jessica never made it to meet up with her friend. they are treating this as an abduction. they are going door to door looking for her, expanding the search now even as they continue to focus on the area around her home. it's a home that she shares with her mom, who works an overnight shift, and was sleeping when the school called to say that jessica hadn't shown up for school on friday morning. the mom sleeping, leading to an eight-hour delay before an amber alert was issued. the girl's father lives out of state. the police in colorado not answering questions about the family or if anyone has been given a policy graph test. that backpack was found six

miles away from where jessica was last seen. it is being analyzed for anything like dna. as we get more we'll pass it around. jenna: a rogue nation warning its missiles with reach the u.s. mainland, north korea. gordon chang is author of "nuclear showdown, north korea takes on the world." what do you think of north korea coming out and saying, watch it our missiles can reach your lands. >> they are complaining about the united states increasing the range of south korea missiles. the north korea's are no more than bluster. they'll probably be able to perfect and deploy a missile that will hit the united states within three or four years. a big military parade in china,

the chinese sold them missile launchers. and may have sold them the missiles on top of them. we don't really have a north korea problem, we have a china problem. jenna: so much of the news is around the middle east. we've heard from mitt romney with his foreign policy speech yesterday very much focused on the middle east. you say as americans we have to pay attention to two, big main actors in the world today, and that is china and russia, why? >> because, yes, syria, iran, north korea, they do threaten us, what makes them inch seeding lee dangerous is they have the backing of both moscow and beijing. without the backing they won't be able to do very much. also terrorists would be much easier to deal with if they didn't have state sponsors of terrorism. many of those state sponsors are in turn sponsored by beijing. jenna: when russia and china have been brought up mitt romney at one time a couple months ago said russia is our number one

geopolitical soul. the president took issue with it and you could say he scoffed at the fact that mitt romney mentioned that. he misquoted that and said romney called russia our number one even knee. enemy. what do you think about that at this point in the campaign and what we need to hear as voters? >> we need to hear context. it's like wins ton churchill's 1946 iron curtain speech. we need a speech like that but for our times the backing of that moscow and beijing have given to some of the worst elements in the international system. when romney talked about russia being our number one geopolitical foe. he started that conversation and unfortunately it hasn't continued. jenna: if you look a different administrations out of the past that have failed to do that, really engage, why? >> i think the united states wanted to integrate both china and russia, to bring them in and

engage them and we felt if we criticized them that would sort of hurt and undermine that process. unfortunately the russians and the chinese have just seen what was a gesture of friendship on our part, they've interpreted as a sign of weakness so they press the advantage. and after four decades of engagement of china china has become very belligerent and hostile original leave. our policies are obviously not working. this is the reason why we need to have this conversation. jenna: it will be interesting to see fit comes up in the vice presidental debate or the presidential debate yet to come. thank you for your perspective. bill: governor mitt romney riding a surge of momentum after his first debate with president obama. as some now raise the question, did the president throw in the towel last week in denver? a fair & balanced debate on that concept ahead. and if simple skydiving isn't sufficiently thrilling for you, maybe you should consider this. a record-setting attempt in a

supersonic jump from the edge of space. 0t[h7

jenna: governor mitt romney back on the campaign trail today, one in afternoon in iowa and capping off the day with a rally in ohio with new jersey governor chris christie. john roberts traveling with the romney team and he's live in iowa with more.

hi, john. >> reporter: good morning to you, jenna. the romney campaign feeling pretty good today after the release of the pew poll that finds him up 4 points over president obama in likel voters. i talked to stewart stevens in florida the other day. one thing about governor romney is he closes well and they hope it keeps going. he's here in madison county iowa to propose his plans to help people if rural america and farmers with his plans to end the estate tax achieve north america energyepependedence, claiming at the same time that president obama's policies would hurt farmers. the governor talks about his five-point plan to fix the economy, something he says will help everyonerom farmers to small businesses. >> i'll make sure our tax policies and our regulatory policies and healthcare, all these things come together to make it easier for small business to grow and thrive. america needs this new direction.

we can't go on the path we've been on. we must restore america's strength and i will do it with your help. >> the obama campaign leveling a new attack at governor romney today over his plans to cut spending, specifically cut funding for pbs that would affect big bird. they have a new ad about it on today. >> bernie madoff, gut tons of greed and the evil genius to towered over him. one man has the guts to speak his name. >> big bird, big bird, big bird. >> it's me big bird. >> big yellow, a men as to our economy. mitt romney knows it's not wall street you have to worry about, it's sesame street. >> reporter: the republican national committee coming out with its own response, this graphic advertisement that quotes the count from sesame street saying that president obama since the doe bait has mentioned big bird eight times, elmo six times. the attack on benghazi zero

times and zero times on fixing the economy. the president because he can't run on his record is talking about little thing so big bird is fairly tall, he's kind of bill o'reilly size. jenna: i think he's officially 8 to the 2, not bill o'reilly but big bird. just so we are at facts for the day, for what it's worth. we'll continue to watch the back and forth. jon: daily beast blogger andrew sullivan is raising a red flag for president obama and his re-election hopes n. a down beat praes you might call it earlier this week he called out the president for throwing away a lead in the polls. he writes, quote, i've never seen a candidate this late in the game so far ahead just throw in the towel in the way obama did last week, throw away almost every single advantage he had with voters, and managed to enable his opponent to seem as if he cares about the middle class as much as obama does. with four weeks still to go did

the president really just throw away the election? let's get a fair & balanced debate underway joining us pete snyder there on the left of your screen the ce ofrbgs disrupt tere capital and chairman of virginia victory 2012, a fox news contributor. and chris kafinnas, former chief of staff to democratic senator joe manchin. welcome to both of you. what do you think did president obama just throw away the election, throw in the towel? >> no, you've got to love this business. a few weeks ago it was the owe owe president obama was skating to victory, there was nothing that was going to stop him and governor romney was dead and his political fortunes were over. in the split of a second it is almost the opposite. there are four weeks to go, there are still a lot of campaigning to do, critical debates have to happen. the president did not have a good debate, i think that is self-evident. moving on i think you have two key debates and the vice

presidental debate that will be really critical. how each candidate performs in those debates will have an incredible significance in who wins the president. he's got to come in especially in his first debate, the president, in the town hall and hold governor romney's feet to the fire about his policies, hess facts and make him explain his contradictions and how his policies will not work. jon: chris he says that you've got to love this business -- i'm sorry, pete i want to address this to pete. i was thinking about chris' quote that you've got to love this business. so pete you've got to love this business when your candidat canned seems to be surging. >> i'd be lying to you if i didn't say that we were heartened by governor romney's debate performance last week. 80million americans got to really cut through the clutter of all the tv ads and direct mail pieces and charges basketbalback and forth and they got to see an effective leader, a ceo give a clear vision of how to move this country and economy record.

on the flip side they saw president obama who, you know, i don't think he's trying to tank this election, he firmly believes that his policies, which have failed, are the path forward. he firmly believes that it's not his fault at all, and it all should be blamed on george w. bush, and americans got to see a leader who didn't have a plan versus a ceo who had a clear one forward. so i actually agree with chris. jon: chris this question is for you. you say there are more debates, two presidential debates and one vice presidental debate. andrew sullivan, whose down beat column on president obama's prospects triggered us to hold this debate he writes this. a sitting president does in the recover from being obliterated on substance, style and likability in the first debate and get much of a chance to come back. why what do you think about that, chris? >> i'm glad he's not a political operative e. doesn't know what

he's talking about. this is a volatile race. if you look at inerms of where the voters are, especially undecideds, no one is locked in. you'll seeee norm news fluctuations in the coming weeks 10, 15%. i think the challenge here, and i think the real emphasis here for the president is to go into that next debate and give a full-throated defense his presidency. despite what the republicans say the country is better off, it is moving in the right direction. the president needs to go out there and say, the republicans want to say that the country isn't better off, tell the 50 million people that have jobs today. the soldiers that are coming back from iraq, tell them they are not better off. your opponent is not going to do that. you have to tear apart your opponent's policy, if you do there is nothing there with respect to governor romney's policies with all due respect. johnston pete is shaking his head. >> this president has had four

years to lead and turn this economy around. he took the first two years of his presidency, instead of focusing on creating jobs and moving this economy forward he put all the chips down and ram rodded obamacare down the throats of americans, and it's really costing our economy jobs right now. he's been only about excuses, has no new plan forward. look at where gas prices are? he explained as a candidate in 2008 that gas prices were a buck 80. they are now in california $6. he has no plan for energy independence for america, and that's the problem, chris. >> you can't honestly say that the unemployment rate hasn't gone down unless republicans don't want to look at the actual facts. it's 7.8. he's created jobs. >> this president has been a hinderance to the economy. >> president obama has created more jobs than the last two

republican presidents combined. >> absolutely not skwro*frpbz we have to leavnot not. jon: we have to leave it there. i have to wish you a happen see birthday. >> look automatic. jon: jenna is baking you a cake it will be in the newsroom. >> thanks. jenna: judgment day for a convicted child predator. i know this story has impacted so much you. it's affected so many of us in the newsroom as well. jerry sandusky finds out how long he will spend behind bars and leaves us with his explanation of yes was found guilty. you'll want to hear that. judge napolitano joins us with his take on the sentencing and all the rest, next. [ male announcer ] unitedhealthcare wants to know

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and extras like vision and hearing, with premiums as low as zero dollars a month. but don't wait. the last day to enroll is december seventh. call now. jenna: right now jerry sandusky heading to prison for what is essentially a life sentence. the 68-year-old former penn state coach sentenced to at least 30 years in prison. judge andrew in a poll ta

napolitano joins us. he could have been sentenced to 400 years in prison, why 30? >> i don't know why the judge came up with these numbers. no that pennsylvania has an antiquated system of sentencing. in many states, like say new jersey, where i sat as a judge, for a crime-like this you would sentence the person to life without parole period, whether they live five years or 50 years. to a person who is 68 years old, there is no difference between 60 years and 400 years in jail. jenna: it feels different, though, judge. >> it sounds different. people should understand that 30 years to 60 years means he is not eligible even to ask for parole until he has served the full 30 years. so he would have to wait until he's 98 years old before he could have for parole if he ever lived that long. that is probably the thinking of this judge. the other thinking of the judge, and again i'm trying to get inside the judge's head, is that as horrendous as this crime is

you might save the 400 years for a mass murderer, because as you say it sounds worse, it sounds heavier. jenna: it's such a difficult story to wrap your head around in so many different aspects. >> it is. jenna: we heard from jerry sandusky from prison in a recorded statement, and i'm going to play a little bit for our viewers now. this is part of his reasoning of why he ended up where he did today. take a listen. >> the young man who is dramatic, the veteran accusor and always sought attention started everything. he was joined by a well orchestrated effort of the media, investigators, the system, penn state, psychologists, city attorneys and other accusers. they won. jenna: the victims certainly heard that sentiment, the judge had to hear that sentiment as well. how would that impact you if you heard that type of explanation and really no remorse? >> it won't impact me at all, and i don't think it impacted this judge. i mean essentially mr. sandusky is rearguing the case, and is

suggesting while the witnesses should not have been believed. that is history. the jury has spoken. the judge has heard very competent, professional applications to set aside the verdict for the very reasons that sandusky just argued and the judge rejected those arguments. the judge is not in a position now to hear arguments that he should have been acquitted. he's only in a position to hear arguments about the harm that he's caused and the reasons he's going to be in jail. judges have a tendency of letting criminal defendants, especially ones they know are going to go to jail for a longtime say whatever they want just to get it out of their system. in this particular case what sandusky said is irrelevant, you can't argue guilt or in sense at this point and inappropriate, because the judge can't even take it into account so it's just a waste of time. jenna: there are also complaints by sandusky and his team that they did not have enough time to prepare for trial and this really could go to appeal, then. are we going to see that, judge? what should we expect? >> yes, that is a legitimate basis for appeal. i don't know why the judge did

this. in case like this the defense can't prepare until they get the government's file. he let the government give them their file the nightefore the trial started. that is not really enough time. but whether it's worthy of saying the whole trial was unfair and the verdict is tainted is for an appellate court to decide. how long will that take? probably about a year for them to either uphold or reverse it. i think they'll uphold it. jenna: we have a couple of executives as well from penn state facing trial in the next couch months. we'll continue with this story nice to have your perspective. thank you, judge. >> pleasure, jenna, no matter what we talk about. jon: the chances are pretty good you have a beloved family pet at home, right? millions of americans do. surprising new research suggests you can actually make your animal very sick. we'll explain how coming up. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open,

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jenna: just in time for flu season, new research suggesting that pet owners may be able to spread potentially deadly diseases to the family dog or cat. talking about the flu here. 73million american homes include a pet that is well over half the homes in the country. that's why we wanted to talk to a doctor, a veterinarian at the animal medical center here in new york city. doc, can we really give the flu to our dog or cat? >> and ferret as well. for years and years and years we always made no, no, no, no if you have the flu you can't give it to your pet. a couple of years ago a veterinarian noticed a woman and her cats being sick at the same time. tested the cats and found out the cats had the same flu we did. jenna: how about the other way around the cats giving the flu

to the own stpher. >> cats will probably not give the flu to the owner. it's a human flu. they probably need to get it from you. what that means is when you're sick you can't lay on the sofa and say, oh, here, kitty, kitty, come lay with me because i'm feeling bad and i want you to snuggle with me because you can give your cat the flu. >> do you have to quarantine them to the study. >> you have to quarantine yourself. yourself. jenna: i guess it's you not them you have to stay in the bedroom. >> if you're sick and you feel like you have to quarantine from your husband, your girlfriend your kids you have to quarantine yourself from the cat also. jenna: in the study it also suggested that it might be wise if you have animals to get a vaccine seen not for yourself but for them. is that really something you can do to protect your pet? >> i think so. if you don't get the flu then you can't give the flu to your pet. so from the veterinarian

standpoint i would say keep yourself healthy so your pet is healthy too. >> what about vaccines for animals? >> there is not a human flu vaccine for animals. dogs get the flu, they have their very own specific flu that does not transmit to people. you can get your dog vaccinated against flu. talk to your veterinarian about whether it's right for your dog. jenna: what do you do for your pets if they have the flu. >> the first thing you should do is test with your veterinarian. they can do a test and find out if you've given your cat, dog or ferret the flu. chicken soup would be good for them. don't give any of your own medications to your pets, animals don't tolerate things like advil, aspirin, eye bee proceed fenn nearleye booibupron

like humans do. keep them away from the tylenol. jenna: did you hear that, jon, a little chicken soup for the dog. jon: no theraflu. let's keep running that video. a puppy getting a bath. a big romney bounce where it counts in the swing states that could decide this case. what key polls are showing just four weeks out.

>> reporter: hi, everybody, rick folbaum in the "happening now" control room. stories we are working on. to attack or not to attack, some conflicting advice for president obama ahead of debate number two. democrats disagree what to do in light of polls showing the governor pulling ahead. not exactly a rolling out of the welcome mat mat for the leader of germany to greece. more trouble in european what it means for us in the u.s. the bit of a rocky start for the first commercial space mission aimed at restocking the space station. we have the latest on the

space-x mission. all that and more as the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. jenna: governor romney's debate performance, yes, we are still talking about it, could be giving his campaign a big boost where it counts. at least where it counts right now at polls. jon: that's right. jenna: we actually have to wait r the voting to take place, four weeks from today, right. jon: four weeks, hard to believe. jenna: noon here eastern time. we are glad you are with us, i'm jenna lee? i'm jon scott. a major shift in momentum four weeks from the day. a new poll shows governor romney surging and closing the gap in key swing states. in michigan the poll shows the president three points ahead of romney 48-45. last month he was up by 10. rasmussen reports say the president is ahead by 49-47. well within the margin of error. in ohio it's a virtual tie now.

rasmussen reports giving the president a one-point advantage 50-49 in this crucial battleground state, that margin of error 4.5%. let's talk about it with a.b. stoddard and associate editor of "the hill." is this all prompted by the debate, a.b. sth. >> you can look at som a.b.? >> you can look at some of the surveys and soft work done in the states before the debate and see there was a natural tightening going on among likely voters. likely voters are far more important than registered voters. the race has always been tighter among those who are likely to vote. the democrats are seeing as their greater challenge. it w tightening a bit. the debate gave governor romney tremendous momentum, it changed the picture for him what lot of voters who r-r trending toward the president or still uncommitted who thought that he didn't understand the problems of the country, didn't understand their own problems,

wasn't empathetic, and he's so in command that night not only of the facts but in presenting himself as someone with ideas and a plan, and someone who is indeed presidential and who was nice. he was very respectful of the president throughout, even when he was attacng and you saw a huge bump for him right away in those instapolls. now we'll see polls come in, we'll continue to see more toward the end of the week that were taken in the field, sunday, monday night and see the effect. so far it looks very good for him. jon: the numbers out of michigan, four-point margin of error there. michigan is a state that the romney campaign had sort of seemed to have given up on, and yet this puts it very well within striking distance. >> it's so interesting to see them sort of wake up to a totally different game this week. they have to make decisions about where they want to spend their money now. michigan is now in play and they'll really have to take

advantage of the fact that he's closed the gap there so suddenly. they will be back in play in wisconsin. it wasn't looking good a week ago. they'lhave to spend money there. and of course there is ohio. the path to ohio is very difficult. now that easy raced president obama's lead in some polls there he'll have to take advantage, really evening energize the troops on the ground and spend his resources wisely in order to try to keep ohio competitive and pick up a lead there. jon: the president is getting all kinds of advice as to what he should do in the next debate to try to turn things around. some are saying, you know, on the democratic side that he needs to get tougher, he needs to go off mitt romney and really be forceful. what do you think about that advice? >> well, president obama has put himself in quite a corner, because, number one, he's never been a great depwaeurt, and he wasn't prepared for the performance mitt romney put in last wednesday night. jon: have you told him he's not

a great debater? i'm not sure anybody has ever said that to the president. >> i don't work for president obama, i don't tell him anything. i think his staff served his poorly if president obama wasn't watching mitt romney change from 20 11-inch to 2012, they made an egregious error of not not being a student of his progress. and being prepared for when a great debater romney is. i don't think obama has ever been a terrific debater. i thought he was well matched and eclipsed by hillary clinton in 08. he put in such a poor performance even by his past performances standards that he really is going to have to pick up his game. whether to attack is really tricky now, because if he comes off as mean and romney continues a really sort of confident and calm and in command performance like the one he put in last week while the president tries to bat

away at him i don't think that will do him any good especially in a town hall setting. he has to come on strong and fight off the attacks without seeing mean. jon: so much at stake in this next debate. a.b. stoddard thank you. he was a law professor. when you're a law professor you don't get a lot of argument back. you don't debate your students. jenna: they say mitt romney's style was kind of like being in front of a board and giving a presentation in facts. it is interesting to see how different backgrounds come into play here. jon: ceo experience. >> what works best you never know might depend on the night. we will continue to talk about politics, controversy overt president's campaign donation website. shannon bream is live in washington with the latest on this. >> reporter: jenna the government accountability institute decided look into the security of online donations for every federal race, house, senate and the white house. and they say they were shocked by what they found on the esident's campaign website.

while the commercial side of the website where you can buy things like t-shirts and bumper stickers it's got the same level of security you would get on sites like amazon.com. the same is not true for the section of the website that takes donations. the group is warning that the security loophole makes it easier for ineligible voters like foreign citizens to donate. of course that is illegal without being tracked and it's raising questions about why there aren't tough irbarriers in place. the obama campaign says we do not accept donations from foreign nationals or any other ineligible individual. and the campaign voluntarily goes above and beyond federal election commitments to insure the integrity of fundraising efforts. the campaign also notes that it has a number of protocols in place, including manual checks of suspicious donations, something skeptics say they find hard to understand. >> they do data mining, social media, they do it unlike anybody else. they are essentially saying that

while industry standard relies on the technological security systems elsewhere we are going to do it the old fashioned way by hand on the back end and you're just going to have to trust us that we're doing that. in my mind that is just not an acceptable standard in today's era. >> reporter: experts say it's relatively easy for any website to upgrade the security for these kinds of traactions and donations, but the obama campaign says it has complete confidence in the system and the protocols it has in place right now. jenna. jenna: more on that as we get it, shannon, thank you. jon: here is the $716 billion question, it's taking center stage at the debate last week as well. governor romney says that is how much president obama has cut from medicare. the obama campaign claims it is simply not true. immediate medicare will be a hot topic during the vice presidental debate this week especially with paul ryan controversial plan to overhaul

the program. jim angle takes a look at the numbers for us breaking it down from washington. >> reporter: there is a critical dispute over whether president obama cut $716 billion from medicare which could seriously affect seniors or whether he saved 716 billion as he said in the debate. >> $716 billion we were able to save from the medicare program by no longer over paying insurance companies, by making sure that we weren't over paying providers. >> reporter: others, however, say they are not savings, they are cuts to medicare that shortchange providers such as doctors and hospitals. >> when you pay a provider of a service much, much less than they actually need to cover that you are costs, many of them will stop supplying it. >> reporter: that is the same assessment of the action wear reese at medicare who determined the $716 billion cut would reduce payments so much that medicare would be worth less to doctors than medicaid healthcare

for the praor, drawing this comment from the debate. >> some 15% of hospitals and nursing homes say they won't take any more medicare patients under that scenario. we also have 50% of doctors who say they won't take more medicare patients. >> so the senior citizen will be less desirable than the welfare mother to doctors. and when that happens seniors are going to find long waits for care and find it very difficult to find doctors who will see them and facilities who will admit them. >> reporter: the obama campaign minimizes the impact as much as it can. listen. >> you know what those cuts are, it's taking subsidies away tpreupb shaourpbs companies, taking rebates away from prescription drug companies. >> medicare advantage which covers one in four seniors is run by the very insurance companies. though the president plans huge cuts in the program down the road, right now he's giving them bonuses. >> keep the enrollment up to

keep the seniors happy at least through this election,. >> reporter: then the cuts will start. not only that, mr. obama also applies the 716 billion, jon, to offset the cost of obamacare, making it look much less expensive than it otherwise would be. jon. jon: seems like a big shell game. thanks for untangling it for us. >> reporter: big shells. jon: very big shells. jim angle in washington. thank you. jenna: new outrage after a group of high school students gets suspended for eating these mints, and it's causing a big burst of min minty fresh controversy. jon: there is no doubt vice-presidental nominee paul ryan has given the republican ticket a boost. how much is the wisconsin congressman helping the ticket in the swing states. we will show you the numbers. jenna: gas prices skyrocketing where some folks are paying $6 a

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jon: right now a look at headlines we are following. israel's military has deployed a battery of patriot missiles near the lebanese border in the city of haifa. they shot down an unmanned aircraft that entered their air space. an egyptian born creature extradited from england pleading not guilty in new york to terrorism problems. they say masr icon spaoeurd to set up a terrorist training camp in oregon. he's accused of helping kidnap 16 hostages in yemen in 1998 including two american tourists. friends of detroit lions football legend alex karis says

he's on the verge of death with only a few days to live. he is reportedly suffering from kidney failure. he has been dealing with a variety of health problems in recent years, including dementia and cancer. jenna: we wish his family well. a stunning new surge in gas prices across california where drivers are reeling from the pain at the pump. right now the average for a regular gallon in the golden state, the average $4.67. that's up nearly 50-cent tph-s just one week. in san diego the spike in prices has got even so bad that folks are now paying nearly $6 per gallon. how high is it going to go? adam housley is live at a station in los angeles with more. what does it look like there today, adam. >> reporter: it's a little bit more expensive than it was yesterday, it's 4.67 statewide. actually in los angeles it's 4.71. behind me we found a station where it's 5.09. was a bit higher about an hour ago then the station came out

and knocked it down about 25-cents that would follow the theory that some places may be raising prices a bit higher to take advantage of the fact that there is a gas shortage in california. as you mention these high gas prices continuing to upset people across the state. the most expensive part of the state you might wonder is actually not los angeles or san diego, on average the most expensive gas in california is right smack-dab in the middle along the coast where the paso robles area is. this is $4.75 a gallon. the governor has allowed the winter standard to come online. we are told it may drop the prices down some, maybe 10 to 15-cents. we are roughly 87-cents higher than we arat this point last year. people aren't too happy in it especially in california's car culture where everybody basically has to drive. jenna: you mentioned the governor, what else could be done about all of this? >> reporter: well, we are hearing from a number of different politicians as you might imagine, they are pret

type set. barbara pwoerbgs, boxer, a senator and dianne feinstein are calling for federal investigations. some blame the politicians because they pass higher standards that you won't find in other states. the attorney general in california says she'll look into the gas price hike as well. dianne feinstein came out. we heard she was commenting on this yesterday calling for an actual investigation. here is what she said in part about that. >> i think we need to look at all things. look, i'm a native californian. i've never seen gas prices as they are today, and i see no respectable market answer for them. >> reporter: but of course gas price analysts say there is an answer, that is the the fact that california had a number of refineries go down that only made california gas, and when that happens you can't import from outside state lines. either way, jenna we are having a number of politicians,

feinstein and boxer calling for federal investigations. we will see see if that comes to pass in washington. jenna: we'll continue to watch the story in california in the meantime adam, thank you. jon: there are new fears the global economy could be on the verge of another world-wide meltdown. what economists are concerned might happen. we'll get into that next. plus, a battle for wisconsin, a state that's gone democratic in six of the last eight presidential elections, but could wisconsin native paul ryan and his presence on the ticket change all that? we'll take a look coming up.

jenna: exactly four weeks until election today. we are take being a close look at some of the key stas in the race for the white house. today we're turning to wisconsin

home of the green bay packers of course if you're a football fan. voters there have gone democratic in six of the last eight elections. remember governor romney's vice-presidental nominee paul ryan is of course a native of wisconsin. so is he a factor there? we'll take a look at some of the latest polls and maybe you can make up your own mind on that. in wisconsin the unemployment rate is just below the national average and it's in line with what we see for gas prices across the country. not in california but across the country. the number of visits for the president and mr. romney equal there in wisconsin both have visited twice. statistics, teny electorial votes from the state of wisconsin. the the state governor scott walker you know that name well. we'll talk about that factor, the factor of a republican governor with our next guest in just a moment. also as far as polling, though, this is the latest "real clear politics" average, the president pulling away a little bit from mitt romney. not as much as before in the last couple of weeks but up by six points in the state of

wisconsin. joining us now craig gilbert the washington bureau chief and national political reporter for the milwaukee "centennial." you've covered sixee legses. how does this compare to the past. >> everything is different the way the campaign works, the media works. as far as wisconsin we've had cycles where wisconsin was at ground zero especially in 2004. this year what jumps out about it in terms of wisconsin's role is paul ryan's appearance on the ticket. jenna: how will that help. >> he can't by himself close a 3 or 4 or 5-point gap. it is a case where mitt romney has to close the gap in wisconsin. it may be happening. we only have one post debate poll that shows a narrowing. but if this is close to a 50-50 race nationally then wisconsin is very much in play and paul ryan could be a factor. jenna: i was fascinated by one

of your recent articles where you took a look the some of the key voting groups in your state and you found something out really interesting, that there are voters in the state that fully approve of governor walker and even supported him when it came to the election for governor, but also fully approved of the president and planned to vote for him. so they voted for governor walker and also plan to vote for the president and that might be counter intuitive for some of us from the outside looking in. tell us more about that. >> it's about 10% of the election threat that has told pollsters all year that they approve of republican governor walker but they also approve of democratic president obama. these voters when you look at them in the data they are a little bit younger, less partisan, less ideological. more optimistic about the economy. it makes sense they are more positive about the two incumbents even when they come from different parties. if you're mitt romney and trying to close the gap with barack

obama, these are voters not necessarily in the bank for obama. they are positive towards him, they may be available bus they are open to a republican message. jenna: if you are governor romney how do you speak to people that are less unhappy with the way things are in the country right now. what is the key message that may resonate with wisconsin residents specifically? >> yeah, you're right. it's a harder sell in some ways because they are less negative about the economy, and also when you look at the data these are voters that have not been pre debate too positive about governor romney, but it may be that that first debate where he cast a more moderate image, that may be an effective sell for these voters, because only about a quarter of them are republicans, they tend to be, they are heavily independent and heavily moderate. he's not going to get them by ideology, or on the economy. if he can redefine himself like he seemed to have done in the debate that will be helpful. jenna:nteresting to watch, craig, always appreciate your incites. thank you again, we look forward to having you back.

>> thank you. jon: controversial candy sparks the suspension of several high school students. we have the story behind this mint, plus thousands take to the streets across europe, what else, they are prosting austerity cuts and layoffs. as we hear a dire new warning about the global economy. is the world potentially skidding back into a recession? we'll debate it next. [ male announcer ] this is rudy.

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jon: fox news alert, take a look at this. mass protests erupting across europe as leaders there meet on the debt crisis the continent is enduring. 50,000 demonstrators assembling in athens, protesting the visit of german chancellor angela merkel. greeks blame her for enacting painful cuts in their country. and in france autoworkers protest recent layoffs by big unemployment. >> reporter: the situation is particularly tense in greece because they have to come up with 17.5 billion worth of further austerity cuts to get more bailout money which they need, and if they don't get that, they will run out of money supposedly by the end of november. now, the german chancellor in athens today not to hand out cash to the greeks, but to actually sit with the policymakers who are involved in making the further painful cuts where some people have seen

their salaries go down by 40% in recent times. and as a show of support to the greeks. but merkel, for many greeks, is the symbol of their pain. still the greek prime minister said that the german chancellor's visit means that greece is not a lost cause and will stay in the euro. this as protests took place in france outside the cue joe factory near paris. it is set to be closed down. and the imf came out with a report today saying that growth in the world economy will be lower than expected, especially in in the eurozone which is a drag on other world economies, especially the united states. european leaders reacted to the report today. >> what i would say, though, is our economy is rebalancing. we need more jobs in the private sector, and over the last two years we've seen a million net new jobs created in our economy, and last year was the best year for the start-up of new

businesses. >> reporter: but, jon b, growth in europe is expected to be .4% in the next year, and that is if the leaders keep to the course of these reforms. the u.s. is at 2.2% according to this report which really isn't bad, but given the from jilt of the -- fragility of the economy, not enough of a runway to improve the employment situation. and if the u.s. doesn't deal with this fiscal cliff situation, some analysts are saying there could be a double-dip recession going forward. jon: you know, i grew up thinking europe was this refined and peaceful place. they're not lookin so good right now, are they? amy kellogg in london, thank you. jenna: as amy was just talking about, a dire new warning from the international monetary fund today saying that the global economy really risks falling back into recession, the way "the wall street journal" painted it, said that the world economy risks skidding into a recession yet again.

peter morici is an economist at the university of maryland, he's our guest along with charlie gasparino, senior correspondent at the fox business network. we want the economist perspective, but we also want charlie's great reporting from the private sector asell. peter, what do you think about this? are we skidding into a recession? is it a double dip? what's your assessment? >> there is a grave danger of recession, there's the problem of business pessimism because of the policies that mr. obama is going to double down on. the tax increases and so forth. conditions in europe are not improving because tear not dealing with the fundamental -- they're not dealing with the fundamental structural problems, the fact that the southern countrie had to borrow to finance importing, germany will have to have a trade deficit, or there's no going home again. in china they cannot grow forever on the basis of exporting to the americans and not buying from the americans, because then they smother their

customers. these imbalances haven't been fixed so, yes, the danger is real, and it's grave. jenna: charlie, let's talk about the ways to fix i. peter was mentioning the different types of economies at play in europe, but one of the things mentioned overall a couple years ago everyone was saying you've got to fix their debt and deficit, so people cut spending, and that became part of the problem because it slowed down the economy. >> well -- jenna: there's a little bit of you're darned if you do, you're darned if you don't. >> the imf is not a great example of how to fix things. they like high taxes, they like all those measures that slow down the economy. one of the problems in europe, and i have family in europe, is that the welfare state is too big. in italy it's la doll they vida every day. they're still there and still living off that welfare state despite what's going on. if you look at their solutions over there, it's raising taxes. they have not come up with a plan, something like simple soften-bowles which basically

take down the marginal tax rate and plugs loopholes. they're keeping, essentially, the same tax structure as they had in the past. all they're doing, essentially, is raising that tax structure. and i'll tell you, there are people in france right now, there's a debate going on right now whether they should be raising those taxes on the rich. obviously, they're going to do it anyway because there are not enough of them to debate. but it's a bad situation over there. and peter's right. if you look at the global economy, what are the drags on the global economy? okay, china's not going to grow forever, but it's still pretty good. india, still pretty good. it's europe and potentially the u.s. business profits are projected to go down year-over-year. that is really bad. first time since 2009, by the way. jenna: and is that all because of europe, just real quick, carly? >> no, a lot of things. it's tax increases, it's pessimism about the future, it's obamacare, other things, fiscal cliff -- jenna: there's a lot of variables. >> yes. jenna: there is a lot of variables, we don't have control

over the entire world. is there a way to insulate ourselves that if recession is out there, that we don't fall into it as well? >> well, we can give ourselves the best chance, and that is to do something about our huge trade deaf skit and do -- deficit and do something about our banks and energy seven sector. resolve the trade deficit by china by combating protectionism, something mr. obama is afraid to do. develop domestic oil and gas, something mr. obama feels is immoral, and something that, and, essentially, have some smart regulation on wall street. not layer upon layer upon layer of endless nonsense that keeps you from making loans. jenna: charlie, is it simply a change of administration? peter's pointed to that, you've got to get someone with a different paradigm in there. is that all it is? is it that simpling, quote-unquote? >> i will say this, by the i -- way, corporate america is

better. business leaders are worried about a lot of stuff in terms of fiscal policy coming out of this administration. >> right. >> they believe this administration is anti-business. and by the way, just be fair about this for a second. what has barack obama and joe biden offered the country? the buffet tax. and that will -- buffett tax, that will tell you everything you need the know. jenna: we'll try to arrange that. charlie and peter, nice of to have you both today. >> take care. jon: all right. let's go from taxes and the economy to a bizarre case of he said/she said. it pits a group of students against administrators at one illinois high school over some unidentified pills. rick folbaum is live in the newsroom with that. >> reporter: well, jon, the boys say they were eating revive energy manipulates, these are -- mints, these are title tablet -- little tablets that promise to put a little kick in your step. they are not illegal. the kids were spotted eating them in the school cafeteria

last week and immediately suspended for two days. they were also banned from attending any of the school's homecoming activities. one of the kids is speaking out. take a listen. >> not fair that we're basically not going to school because of a mint when kids at school probably right now are doing drugs in the bathroom. >> reporter: he's upset the kids were sent ohm from school unsupervised even though they were thought to have just taken drugs, and he says the suspension should be lifted now that the school knows the kids were not taking drugs. the school's not backing down, said they had the right since they were seen popping unmarked pills. we'll keep you posted. jon: please do. that's -- well, hope there's a happy ending down the road. rick folbaum, thanks. jenna: an emotional day in court. three of jerry sandusky's victims confronting him in a packed courtroom. before the former penn state coach learned his sentence for child sex abuse.

we'll have the latest out of there. plus, amateur video showing the moment a car bomb blows up outside a government security building in syria. a live report straight ahead. victor! iot your campbell's chunky soup.

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jon: the violence continues in syria, a bomb blast rocks a government compound outside the capital. a sunni extremist group is claiming responsibility. the bombing caused more than 100 casualties. meanwhile, syria is trading fire with turkey as the two nations lob mortars across their common border. the nato commander says the alliance is ready to step in to defend turkey from syrian aggression. leland vittert is keeping an eye on this very serious situation live from jerusalem. leland? >> reporter: jon, what's most concerning right now is that those artillery skirmishes between the syrians and the turks are continuing unabated.

we are now beginning to get to the second week of those artillery skirmishes which are continuing. the nato chief of staff is saying that he is ready and his forces are ready to defend turkey against outside aggression by syria. and this comes as turkey is now beefing up its artillery, tank military presence and then also moving forward some f-16 fighter jets, forward deploying them to near the syrian border which has become increasingly intense over the past week or so. this can serve not only as a warning to the syrians, but also a little bit of trying to cool down tensions inside of turkey. nato is trying to keep this from escalating into a full war, but from the syrian perspective, this nato warning certainly puts the feeling that if there is a war between nato and turkey on one side, syria on the other, that the gloves would, indeed, come off. the latest video out of damascus shows some car bombs going off near a heavily-fortified syrian

military compound. that points once again to foreign fighters, jihadist fighters coming in, primarily those trained in iraq and libya. and this really complicates things inside syria because no longer is it the rebels on one side wanting president assad gone and the government on the other side continuing to fight its own people. this group of extremists that has now come on means, jon, if in the future assad does decide to leave power, the civil war could easily continue between the rebels where local syrians want a better life for themselves and their country and the jihadists who clearly want an islamic state inside syria. jon, back to you. jon: leland vittert, thank you. jenna: flying dragon now on its way to international space station. remaining on course despite a problem with an engine. the game of changing mission and what happened specifically with that engine.

what went wrong there? plus, a mission in the other direction. right now a daredevil sky diver is getting ready the to jump from a balloon 23 miles above the earth. why, you ask? we'll tell you next. [ male announcer ] at scottrade, you won't just find us online, you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. because personal service starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our support teams are nearby, ready to help. it's no wonder so many investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

jenna: well, right now an update on a record-breaking skydiving attempt. rick, are you game for that? >> reporter: this is my favorite story of the day, and it looks like this thing is going to happen within the next half hour or so. felix baumgartner is trying to become the first person to freefall from 23 miles up in the sky, that's more than three times the altitude that big passenger jets fly at. and the risks involved, as you

would imagine, jenna, are many. he's got a special pressurized suit to protect him from the elements. it'll be around 70 degrees below zero temperature wise. oh, and he'll also be breaking the sound barrier. first time a skydiver's ever done that. after dropping most of the way traveling at about 700 miles an hour, he will release a specially-designed parachutes. that's just for the last 5,000 feet of his journey, so it's easy to understand why everything needs to be just perfect on the ground. the weather as not been cooperating, the wind has been a bit of an issue. the jump is being sponsored by red bull, the energy drink. it gives you wings, that's their slogan. and there are some scientific advances that can be gained. the window goes for about another ten minutes, so 1:15 eastern time or so is the latest estimate. we'll keep you posted on what's happening down over the deserts of new mexico. back to you. jenna: fascinating.

we'll keep our fingers crossed. rick, thank you. jon: red bull gives you wings, but will they give you a parachute? a privately-owned spacecraft lost one of its nine engines shortly after lifting off sunday night. nasa says the rocket still was able to make it into space, though it is unclear what caused that engine to fail in the first place. let's talk about it with tom jones, a former nasa astronaut and the author of "planetology." e guess this thing has nine engines, one failed pretty spectacularly. do we know what it was? >> hi, jon. i think no one really knows the cause yet, but they got good data down from the engines. one of the nine had a pressure loss is what spacex is saying, and apparently it blew debris off the side of the product.

on the good news side, the other eight engines continued to win, and the dragon capsule got to orbit. so you like a rocket like this that has the robustness, the ability to withstand failure and still make it to orbit. jon: so i guess, in fact, the payload is being delivered to the international space station just as intended. that's all good news, but is this going to slow down this private space venture? >> well, it'll probably slow it down for a couple of months perhaps before the next launch. they've got to diagnose this problem, look at the telemetry from the engine, test fire some engines on the ground, nasa will have to approve the information and the -- investigation and the fix. this is not unknown, the shuttle lost one engine on one of its 135 missions, so we know how to deal with engine failures, and i hope that this design will get

some more experience under its belt and continue to run these successful supply missions up to the space station. jon: well, eventually this thing is supposed to fly our astronauts, right? >> right. and the fact that they withstood an engine failure is a good thing. you've got to have the ability to continue on with a mission. on the other hand, rocket science is hard, and this is onlyhe fourth launch of the falcon 9, spaceand should use this as a learning opportunity to strengthen the design of their vehicle. jon: well, it's actually a picture-perfect launch except for that, except for that explosion. you think that they will learn from it, they'll, you know, figure out whatever the problem was and the space program, the international space station supply program will continue on as intended? >> well, there are two people at nasa, the head of the human space flight division and the space station program, they have to both approve the results coming out of spacex to insure that they understand this failure, they put a corrective

fix in, and they'll bless this fix. and if nasa's not satisfied, of course, they'll go back to the drawing boards until the test program shows it's safe to fly again. jon: tom jones, former astronaut for nasa, thanks for being with us. >> my pleasure, jon. jenna: doing what cheerleaders do best. jon: what? jenna: one of the things. the incredible video of a texas teen on a flipping frenzy and how it landed her in the world record books. we'll show you the whole thing next. [cheers and applause] [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ]

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jon: some breaking news in the casey anthony saga. rick folbaum has that from the breaking news desk. >> reporter: this is a civil suit against casey anthony. of course, everybody remembers this is the woman who was acquitted just last year in the murder of her 2-year-old

daughter caylee who disappeared back in 2008. this civil case is brought by a won named se nay da gonzales who claims that she's owed punitive damages because casey implicated her in the story that she originally told the police after the little girl went missing. anthony's lawyers say that this woman is not owed any damages, and they've actually asked a dge to do a couple of things. first of all, limit the testimony that is presented in this case. they've also asked the judge to throw out the case altogether. not clear whether they're going to get their wishes on either front, but these are the latest developments which in this civil case which is set to go to trial in january. so casey anthony, who has really lived her life after her trial ended out of the spotlight, about to be thrust back into it with this civil case, and her lawyers are trying to keep her from having to pay any monetary discharges to this woman. back to you. jon: rick funnel -- folbaum in

the newsroom. jenna: as promised, flipping her way into the record books. check this out. it's a 16-year-old cheerleader from texas doing, well, you can count 'em, 35 consecutive handsprings at a friday night football game. who cares about the game? this woman was on a roll, shattering the previous record of 32. two judges from the guinness book of world records were on hand to watch the history-making moment. her name is miranda ferguson. she says practice makes perfect. and she started her flipping frenzy earlier this year just trying to get -- whoa, wait, look at! perfect ending there. doesn't even fall over: she's not even dizzy. jon: holy cow. jenna: she's the world record holder at age 16. she was telling her friends, they were talking about when she did 20 in a row x they said i wonder what the record is. so they found that out, and there she goes. jon: congratulations to her. jenna: pretty ,